Remembering
by omnomnivore
Summary: George is still mourning his brother when he stumbles upon a new room in Hogwarts. Who and what does this room hold?


A/N: This was originally for the Pairing One Hour Challenge/ Hardest Challenge Ever on HPFC, but I didn't reach the word limit on time (I had two hours for 2500 words, it took me four hours to complete). I used the prompts grey and Hogwarts and my pairing was George/Salazar; it was most definitely a challenge.

* * *

I had just given my speech at Fred's funeral, had just watched my twin get buried… I was feeling cross and empty and I didn't want to hear one more person give me their condolences. He was gone and feeling sorry about it wasn't going to do anything except invite more pain in. I walked out of the Burrow and into our overgrown garden; I just wanted to remember my brother in peace and quiet.

I leaned against one of the tallest trees and watched as a garden gnome tripped as it ran to a hiding place. A small smile graced my lips as I recalled one of Fred's best throws when the gnome he threw landed on one that we already got rid of. My memory was interrupted as I heard Bill call my name. I ran and jumped over our short fence to get out of range of the wards before apparating.

The sick, tightening feeling was over just as fast as it had begun and I found myself standing in the middle of Hogsmeade. My destination surprised me as I looked around at all the familiar haunts of my childhood. I stood on the cobbled street, just watching as people walked in and out of stores and pubs I knew like the back of my hand. It was a change to see the relaxed, happy faces of the strangers as they passed by.

I stayed where I was for a while longer before making my way to the Three Broomsticks. I walked up to the bar and greeted Madam Rosmerta. She gave me a slight smile before handing me my firewhiskey and moving on to the next customer. I swallowed the shot, left my money on the countertop and walked back out as my throat started to tighten with the threat of tears.

I looked towards Hogwarts and saw much of the castle in ruins. The rebuilding was scheduled to start next week after all the funerals and memorials for those who had passed to free our world from the Bastard-Who-Doesn't-Deserve-A-Name. I walked a little further and found myself next to Honeydukes. I stood there for a moment to consider using the passage in the cellar before entering. There were only three other patrons and the owners were both standing behind the counter.

I bumped into a young man holding a jar of pepper imps and made him drop it. I apologized as the owners rushed over to clean up the mess and made a hasty retreat to the cellar. I went straight to the hidden doorway, lifted up the tile and covered the passage back up. I walked down a few stairs and took out my wand before whispering, "_Lumos!_"

The dingy corridor appeared before me and I started the long trek to the castle. I saw Fred everywhere I went, but this passage brought back a deluge of memories. I remembered every single time we snuck to Hogsmeade for some butterbeer or to refill our dungbombs at Zonko's. There were a few close calls at Honeydukes and even more with Filch and Mrs. Norris as we entered or exited the statue, but we never got caught. I was so caught up in my memories that I didn't realize I reached the slide until I stepped onto it and fell back.

I got back up and crawled up the slide to the back of the witch. I pushed her open and found myself greeted by an eerily empty hallway. It looked mostly untouched save for some blood splatter on the floor to my left. I turned the other way and walked out of the corridor and onto a landing as one of the moving staircases slid home. I wanted to go to the Gryffindor common room, but I didn't want to wait for the stairs to move again so I went down and ended up in the Entrance Hall at the top of the marble staircase.

I felt exposed and looked around uneasily at the destruction, mainly at the missing roof and shattered doors, but I couldn't ignore the singe marks and the blood spatter. I stared in horror at the scene before me, at the scene I had ignored as I mourned for Fred and for Tonks and for Remus. I felt the tears start to fall down my face as I heard Fred's last words to Percy, as I saw his last smile cross his face. I sat down as I finally let the tears fall, as I finally accepted that my twin, my best friend was gone. Time passed by indeterminately as I cried myself dry. I sat there sniffling until I heard footsteps and glanced around worriedly. Professor McGonagall was walking towards me and I stood up quickly, already making excuses. She shushed me and handed me a handkerchief.

"I understand why you are here and you can stay as long as you like, Mr. Weasley. I will be in my rooms if you would like to talk or just sit and enjoy a cup of tea," McGonagall said before she walked away.

I thought about following her, but I wanted to be alone for a while so I took the door down to the dungeons. I was at peace in a place I had called home for most of my teen years. The silence was odd, but everything else felt right. It stilled smelled musty and most of the walls looked the same, but there were cracks and holes in the wrong places and the rusty scent of blood was overpowering in some areas.

Still, I kept walking, deeper into the castle than I think I ever had before. I didn't remember the paintings and there were statues that I definitely hadn't seen. I came to the end of the hall and found myself facing a door. I tried to open it, but found it locked.

"_Alohomora!_" I tried, but it remained locked. I pushed, pulled, even tried to blow it up, but still the door remained locked. I pounded on the wood and screamed at it, "Just open! You damn, stubborn piece of wood!"

I jumped back as it swung open and ventured into the room with my wand drawn. I took a look around and gasped as I realized I was standing in an observation room that looked into the lake. The water was dark and murky, but a warm light emanated from the glass wall, illuminating a small fraction of the nearby water. A grindylow swam by and stuck its tongue out at me before swimming off. Seaweed tickled the side of the window and small fish were milling about.

I went over and touched the glass before feeling myself jerked roughly upwards, as if I had touched a portkey. I tumbled forwards and landed ungracefully on the same floor I had just been standing on. I heard a gruff chuckle come from behind me and jumped up with my wand drawn.

"Put down your wand! I was just enjoying your landing. May I ask who you are?" A man with a long, greying beard and piercing grey eyes inquired.

"George Weasley, and who are you?" I asked as I kept my wand leveled at the man.

"I'm surprised you do not know who I am… That is of little consequence though. My name is Salazar Slytherin, one of the Found-"

"Who?! You can't be Slytherin! Tell me the truth!" I threatened as I raised my wand a little higher.

"And why can I not be Salazar Slytherin?" the man asked as he silently and wandlessly disarmed me.

"Give me back my wand!" I demanded.

"Not until you give me a reasonable explanation as to why I cannot be who I am," he said as he examined my wand.

"I would've thought that was easy since you've been dead almost a thousand years," I replied humorlessly.

"Dead for a thousand years? It took that long for someone to touch the glass looking out on the lake? Mister Weasley, I did not mean to bring you hear, but you _are _here. My name is Salazar Slytherin and when you touched the glass, for you must have touched the glass?" I nodded my head as he explained. "When you touched it, you were brought here so I could punish you for sneaking around. That spell was meant to take any student to me who broke the rules and entered the observation room we are standing in. I am slightly confused as to why you would be brought to me now, but that is a thought to ponder later. The more pressing concern is how to get you back to where you came from."

"Would you mind telling me what year I'm in? I might be able to answer your question," I said without thinking.

"It is 997, but I ask you to refrain from telling me what will transpire as it may cause much of the future to be changed. That as it may be, what house are you in?" Salazar deflected my question.

"You won't like my answer, but Gryffindor." I said meekly.

"Humph… It doesn't surprise me a Gryffindor went prying about." Salazar said as his persona turned cold.

"I don't attend the school anymore, actually, no one does right now. It has been, uh, partially destroyed… I only stumbled upon the room by accident." I briefly explained.

"Destroyed? By what means?" Salazar questioned.

"By one of your ancestors… But I don't want to change that particular part of the future at all." I answered.

"Why would one of _my _ancestors destroy that which I had labored to create? Bah! This discussion is getting us nowhere! Godric should be here soon and we can ponder upon the details of returning you…" Salazar said as he handed me my wand and sat in a winged armchair.

I paced about the room in silence as we waited for Godric Gryffindor, bloody Gryffindor, to arrive. I was curious as to why I was the only one to enter the room for a millennium, especially since it was such an amazing room. I was also curious as to why it had likely been sealed off. And why it opened when cursed.

"Professor, if I may call you that?" He slightly inclined his head. "Why did the door to this room only open when I cursed at it?"

"Godric found it amusing that I would have to lose some of my self-control and use profane language," He explained.

"That's all? Just a joke? Sounds like something my brother would have done to me…" I trailed off.

"Would have?" Salazar pointed out.

"He recently passed during the same act that destroyed most of Hogwarts…" I answered before continuing my pacing.

"I am sorry to hear that." He paused before continuing, "You were right to be placed in Gryffindor… One of the traits he looks for, but so rarely finds is devotion. Not loyalty, but devotion. Loyalty can be blind, as if you were following a master, but devotion is earned and given without a thought. Not all family is devoted completely to one another, yet you seem to be to your brother…"

"He was my twin, my equal. I'm lost without him…" I said as I jumped at the sound of a man roaring curse words on the other side of the door.

"And that would be Godric," Salazar said dryly.

"Salazar, my dear- Who is that?" Godric said as he spotted me.

"His name is George Weasley and his from a considerable amount of time in the future," Salazar explained as I was examined by the large, bearded man. He had a full beard, green eyes and a powerful build. His hair was reminiscent of the mane of a lion… Maybe that's where the lion came from? I thought.

"House?" Godric asked as he looked me over suspiciously.

"Why are you both so bloody concerned with your houses?! Can't you see that it will spell your downfall? That it will cause a rift between all of the Founders?! What were you going to discuss before I so rudely dropped in?" I asked in a rage that took me by surprise.

"You have no right to challenge our methods of teaching. And you have no need of the information about what it is we were planning to do down here!" Godric thundered as his anger became palpable.

"Calm down, Godric! He is right to be mad at our practices since they inadvertently or maybe directly caused his brother's death. Our only concern should be how we get him back to where he came from," Salazar said with a cool head as he placed his hand on Godric's forearm.

"His brother's death? I am sorry for your loss, but you should still keep your tongue in cheek. And, Salazar, have you tried a simple reversal?" Godric said.

"I thought about it, but I wanted to be sure before I tried it. Godric… We still need to talk, but not now." Salazar dismissed his fellow founder. Godric glared first at me, then at Salazar before stomping out of the room.

"You were already sure, so why didn't you send me back?" I asked as I noticed the tension leave Salazar's body with the exit of Gryffindor.

"I want to put off the inevitable a while longer… Bah! Why are you so easy to talk to?" Salazar asked in frustration.

"The inevitable?" I ask as I start to realize what I just interrupted.

"I will be leaving the school at the end of this year. I do not agree with many of the ideals the others have when it comes to teaching the students." Salazar explained darkly.

"If it was to say you were leaving at the end of the year, then why were you only expecting Godric?" I asked with a smirk on my face. Hermione was going to love to hear how the two male Founders were banging each other, putting a rumor of Salazar and Rowena to rest.

"He was just supposed to be the first to arrive," Salazar scrambled.

"But he was late, so shouldn't the others arrived before him?" I asked as I maneuvered him into a trap.

"Why am I explaining myself to you?! A young man who says he appeared from the future!" Slytherin tried to redirect.

"You are explaining yourself because you want to admit and deny at the same time about the relationship you have truly have with Godric." I taunted.

"We have no relationship…" Salazar sighed, "We never have, but I have wanted one badly."

"What did he look like when he was younger?" I asked.

Salazar seemed thrown by the change in topic, but answered, "He looks much like you. Longer hair, freckles covering his face, same nose… Why does that-"

I cut him off by kissing him. I don't know what possessed me to kiss the man who betrayed his fellow Founders, but I sensed he needed it more than he would ever let show. He needed the same peace I was searching for; he needed to fool himself that I really was Godric, that he wasn't going to lose his last chance. And so he kissed me back desperately and when he drew all he could in the way of sensations, he released me and uttered, "_Finite Incantatum!_"

I thought I saw a smile grace his lips before I was sent tumbling back the way I had come. I felt my back hit the floor again and found myself back in the observation room. I thought it was my time, but I could only find out by going back to the main hall. I went back out the door and ambled along down the halls. I finally started recognize where I was and I walked up the small flight of stairs to arrive at the destroyed Great Hall.

I looked around briefly before making my way to McGonagall's room. I knocked on the door before entering to find her lounging in chair that was reminiscent of the chair I had just witnessed Salazar Slytherin reclining in. She poured me a cup of tea as I gloated to myself how I had caught one of the greatest wizards of all time by surprise, twice.


End file.
